Tag: conservation

As the world’s environmental problems expand the challenge is to keep up with the increasingly larger scale of the issues. Decades ago we worried about individual beaches, now we are focused on whole coastlines, and indeed entire oceans are at risk. To keep pace marine biologists and oceanographers have deployed huge arrays of sensors across the…

The idea of the Kraken appears in Melville’s Moby Dick in 1851; played a major role in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in 1870; and appeared as the Watcher in the Water in Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, lurking in a lake beneath the western walls of Moria. The truth is that the giant squid, which may have been the basis for most of these myths and legends, has a real-life story almost as mysterious as unicorns and dragons.

When I reflect back on my life as a marine biologist, as a college professor, I’ve had a wonderful life. I have always loved the ocean and as a marine biologist I couldn’t have a better job. But something was missing. Something important. What is the bigger story of my life?

To be honest, I love abalone and have always been fascinated by this most unusual of snails. In college I truly began to “chase the abalone” which led me to become a field biologist. So these are my confessions; some of my adventures while chasing abalone. Things I normally wouldn’t admit to but looking back were just part of the lore of being a field biologist.

Many people hope that some day we may meet an intelligent being from another world. Hollywood tells us this stranger will come flying down in a spaceship, and will look a bit like us. Most importantly, he’ll have a mind like ours and we’ll figure out how to communicate in a few hours. But maybe…

Are you as interested in the kelp as the swell in the lineup? Do you ponder what lives underwater as you wait for waves? Do you watch the jellyfish and stingrays zing by while surfing? If so, you might be a surfing ecologist and are doubly stoked hanging out in the ocean. Read on, this post is…

We should be afraid of sharks half as much as sharks should be afraid of us. — Peter Benchley (Author of Jaws) [Listen and read] The classic tune to Jaws strike fear even in the most causal beach goer. As a marine biologist and surfer I spent a fair amount of time in the water…

Conservation and conflict are irreparably linked as we address human’s widening impact on the planet. From a broader perspective we are moving forward as our new values and perspectives clash with the old. However, for those in the conservation trenches in may not seem like progress when being attacked at public meetings, creating enemies and, in some cases, receiving…

Becoming a marine biologist is hard work. It takes dedication, perseverance, intellect and inspiration. Growing up in the 1960s I regularly watched some classic TV shows that were the source of that early inspiration and helped compel me to pursue a career as a marine biologist. If you were conscious in the 1960s and 1970s then you likely remember these…